CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) -- Three people have pleaded guilty to using stolen identities and debit card numbers in a buying spree across Iowa.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says 26-year-old Dunieski Santana Moreno and 21-year-old Liliany de Armas Mena pleaded guilty last week in Cedar Rapids' federal court to aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit access device fraud. Thirty-six-year-old Pedro Alvarez Rodriguez pleaded guilty to the same charges on Sept. 21. All three are Cuban citizens, but had lived in the U.S.
Prosecutors say the trio admitted stealing account information earlier this year from at least 35 accounts using "skimming" devices. The stolen information was then encoded onto counterfeit magnetic strip cards, which were used at stores across Iowa.
Each faces up to nearly 10 years in prison when they're sentenced at a later date.